Analysis of forces for micromanipulations in dry and liquid media.

Michaël Gauthier (1) , Stéphane Régnier (2) , Patrick Rougeot (1) , Nicolas Chaillet (1)

1 LAB - Laboratoire d'automatique de Besançon
2 LRP - Laboratoire de Robotique de Paris

During microscale object manipulation, contact (pull-off) forces and non-contact (capillary, van der Waals and electrostatic) forces determine the behaviour of the micro-objects rather than the inertial forces. The aim of this article is to give an experimental analysis of the physical phenomena at a microscopic scale in dry and liquid media. This article introduces a review of the major differences between dry and submerged micromanipulations. The theoretical influences of the medium on van der Waals forces, electrostatic forces, pull-off forces and hydrodynamic forces are presented. Experimental force measurements based on an AFM system are carried out. These experiments exhibit a correlation better than 40 % between the theoretical forces and the measured forces (except for pull-off in water). Finally, some comparative experimental micromanipulation results are described and show the advantages of the liquid medium.

Mots clés: capillary force; Micromanipulation; microrobotics; liquid medium; pull-off force; electrostatic force; hydrodynamic effect; van der Waals force; capillary force.

Domaines: Micro et nanotechnologies/Microélectronique

Michaël Gauthier, Stéphane Régnier, Patrick Rougeot, Nicolas Chaillet. Analysis of forces for micromanipulations in dry and liquid media.. Journal of Micromechatronics, 2006, 3 (3-4), pp.389-413. ⟨10.1163/156856306777924699⟩. ⟨hal-00264438⟩